Middle East | The Daily Star

  • Saudi-led raids hit Yemen’s Sanaa

    The Saudi-led military coalition on Monday carried out multiple air strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa in retaliation for missile strikes on Riyadh.

  • Taliban kill dozens of Afghan troops in attacks

    The Taliban have killed about two dozen Afghan police and pro-government fighters, officials said yesterday, in two attacks that come as the foes are supposed to be preparing for peace talks.

  • Undocumented Bangladeshis in Qatar can take free treatment at hospitals

    Bangladeshi expatriates in Qatar, whose identity cards have already expired or have been living there illegally due to other reasons during the coronavirus pandemic, can take free treatment at hospitals in the Gulf country.

  • Warring sides in Yemen back coronavirus truce

    All sides in Yemen’s long conflict yesterday offered support for the United Nations’ call for a ceasefire to protect civilians from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Rockets hit Iraq’s Green Zone

    Two rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital’s high-security Green Zone early yesterday, hours before US-led forces were set to pull out of a second base in the country.

  • Libya reports first coronavirus case

    Libya has reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, a particular source of concern in the North African country where civil war has badly degraded the public healthcare system.

  • Gunmen in kill 25 at Sikh complex

    Gunmen and suicide bombers raided a Sikh religious complex in the Afghan capital of Kabul yesterday, killing 25 people before security forces killed all of the attackers, the government said.

  • US reduces Afghan aid over impasse

    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah showed no sign of ending their bitter feud yesterday, even after it cost the impoverished nation $1 billion in US aid -- with yet more on the line.

  • UN urges easing of sanctions on Iran, others facing virus

    The UN rights chief yesterday called for any sanctions imposed on countries like Iran facing the new coronavirus pandemic to be “urgently re-evaluated” to avoid pushing strained medical systems into collapse.

  • UNHCR sends medical aid to combat Covid-19 spread in Iran

    United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN refugee agency, airlifts more than four tonnes of medical aid items, including supplies to support the Covid-19 response in Iran.

  • Saudi imposes curfew to curb coronavirus spread

    Saudi Arabia imposes a nationwide curfew starting after reporting a jump of almost a quarter in coronavirus cases, while the United Arab Emirates will suspend all passenger and transit flights to and from the country.

  • Iran's coronavirus deaths rise to 1,556: health ministry

    Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rises by more than 100 to 1,556 and the total number of people infected now exceeds 20,000, a health ministry official says.

  • Insider attack kills 24 Afghan forces

    At least two dozen Afghan security forces were killed yesterday in an insider attack on their base in southern Afghanistan, officials told AFP, as fighting raged in the war-weary country while efforts to start talks with the Taliban stalled.

  • Coronavirus Update

    Qatar suspends entry for travellers from Bangladesh, 13 other countries

    Qatar has temporarily suspended entry for people from Bangladesh and 13 other countries as a preventive measure due to the spread of coronavirus worldwide.

  • Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia halts travel with 9 nations, shuts educational institutes

    Saudi Arabia imposed a temporary lockdown on its eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, home to most of its 15 coronavirus infections, and suspended schools and universities nationwide.

  • UN calls for immediate freeze of military operations in Yemen

    UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths calls for an immediate end to military action by Yemen’s warring parties as renewed violence between the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition threatens peace efforts.

  • Saudi detains three royal princes over 'coup plot'

    Saudi authorities have detained three princes including King Salman's brother and nephew on charges of plotting a coup, the US media report, signalling a further consolidation of power by the kingdom's de facto ruler.

  • At least 27 killed in attack on Afghan political rally

    At least 27 people are killed in an attack on a political rally in Kabul, officials say, in the deadliest assault in Afghanistan since the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.

  • ‘The cave’ in Idlib

    In a field dotted with olive trees in embattled northwestern Syria, Shamseddeen Darra steps down into the gloomy underground shelter he and his family now call home.

  • Hajj Flight 2020

    Saudi Arabia suspends entry for Umrah, tourism amid coronavirus scare

    Saudi Arabia suspends foreigners' entry for the Umrah pilgrimage and tourism from countries where the new coronavirus has spread, as a growing number of cases outside China deepened fears of a pandemic.

  • Europe steps up bid to save deal

    Western European powers stepped up efforts yesterday to try to save a 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions -- on life support since a 2018 decision by the US to withdraw and reimpose sanctions.

  • Erdogan rules out ‘smallest step back’ in Syria’s Idlib

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday vowed Turkey would not take the “smallest step back” in an escalating stand-off with Damascus and Russia over the northern Syrian region of Idlib.

  • Mubarak gets military funeral

    Egypt held a military funeral yesterday for its former president Hosni Mubarak, bestowing the state’s final rehabilitation on the man who ruled for 30 years until he was ousted in disgrace in a 2011 popular uprising.

  • Makkah governor orders arrest of female rapper

    Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

  • Makkah governor orders arrest of female rapper

    Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

  • Netanyahu pledges 3,500 new settler homes in West Bank

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday pledged to build 3,500 new settler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just a week before a tight general election.

  • Calm returns after two-day flare-up

    Calm returned yesterday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.

  • Iran's deputy health minister says he has coronavirus

    Iran's deputy health minister confirms that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic.

  • Conservatives claim victory in Iran polls

    Iran’s conservatives claimed victory Sunday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candidates.

  • Israeli jets strike IS targets in Syria, Gaza

    Israeli air strikes targeting the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip and Syria killed at least six fighters, a war monitor said yesterday, after the jihadists fired a barrage of rockets at Israel.

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